Saturday, October 27, 2007

YORKOFF!!!!!!

For the last several seasons I have played in a weekday fall softball league calledYorkville SportsAssociation.

Yorkville is not a league, rather it is a business. In fact it is a rip off.Hence, the name YorkOff!Unfortunately, it is a business that is not yet regulated by the better business bureau.Leagues, like people, are not perfect, but this association operates under the veil of a monopoly as they control numerous fields throughout the city. More often than not, they do what and when they want at the expense of player safety and fair competitive play all in the name of $$$$$$$$$!!!!!!

Here are some examples of poor service:

(1) UmpiresIt's hard to get good reliable umps in any league, but in this league the umps are in on the hustle. Bases are placed at major league distances so as to speed up the game.The umps care more about hurrying a game rather than having a good game.Yorkville umpires strikes zone are notoriously wider than the grand canyon.Rarely do umps cancel games due to weather or poor field conditions. Safety comes last.

(2) Field Quality.While it's not Yorkville's fault that 54th street field is the worst field in the city (it will be redone into turf this winter) it has been called "DondeCaga La Vaca" ( Where the cows shit).It is their fault that games have been played with puddles the size of the Atlantic everywhere and with several banks of lights out that make seeing the ball a task that only Bugs Bunny could accomplish. Their idea of working on the field is having the president of the league drive around the field with a rake or broom tied to the back of his 4X4 pickup truck or SUV. Pathetic

(3) Player safety.Recently on a day when the field (especially home plate and 3rd base) was covered with puddles they played a co-ed game where the batters box started at the mound and the pitcher threw from 2nd base. Ridiculous and dangerous.

(4) Games TimesThis is there schedule (in blue)Yorkville Fall League - coed games use earlier slots and men's are later Coed - 6:00 earliest - 7:30 latest - And any time in between

Men's - 7:30 earliest - 9:00 latest - And any time in between* Sorry We Do Not Accept Requests For Game Times *

Days Our Fall League is Monday - Thursday. Teams may pick 2 days of the week they would like to play on and Yorkville will attempt to schedule all regular season games on 1 of your 2 choices. Playoffs and rescheduled games may not be on your chosen day.

Games per week

1 game per week 1 bye week per season (this means you will not play 1 week due to odd # of teams) You may see additional games per week or double headers depending on cancellations due to rain outs etc.

What strikes me is the following:

I love the "We Do Not Accept Requests For Game Times" policy.

9pm games in 30 degree weather? Are you fing kidding me? 9pm start is too late anyway.

Bye weeks? It's a six game fall season why do you need byes? B/C of the odd # of teams? That means they are like the airlines that get greedy and over book flights, I mean teams, and the consumer misses out a chance to play in the good weather and is stuck with playing in the brutal cold.

(5) Cost.

HOW MUCH IS IT?

To play in Yorkville Fall League as a team it is $870.00 for the season.

That's $145 a game for a 6 game season. That's quite a hustle

(6) Payouts

WHAT DOES IT INCLUDE?

6 regular season games, officials for the game, permits for the fields the team plays on, playoffs for the top 4 teams, and $1,000.00 cash prize to the league champion.

You can make only $130 (1,000 - 870) if you win the whole thing?!?!? That's a joke.More importantly, the playoff structure is NCAA Basketball style single elimination tournament. Single elimination in softball? One and done. Not much value there.

Finally, the only reason I play in this league is that my manager's business sponsors our team. I would never pay a penny to play in this league and neither should you. Next year the league will probably be better thanks to the new field. As mentioned above, no league is perfect, but in this league you seem to get very little value for you investment of time and money.

8 comments:

I have been telling Al Morales for years that he should give back a little more in prizes because he will keep alot of teams and get better teams. However, as you said, he wants to keep it simple and just make money, which is fine by me but he should also share the weath to make it RESPECTABLE. I won the COED 5 years straight down 52nd st, in ICE COLD playoffs in DEC,haha Anyway, 1k we got back each time which is a joke. I only played because i still lived on 47th st and i had a few women and guys that just wanted to have fun. We played shit ass teams, on shit ass fields and shit ass umps! I wish i had permits for fields. I think 40-50% should go back to league as prizes if its possible. Most of the time it is. 28th st and many leagues give decent prizes, thats the way it should be.I know Al since 1987, great guy but i think now is the time to give back to teams that win. However, most teams in his leagues are in it for fun, thats why competition is weak most of the time. People want to play so he will still have leagues no matter what. More power to him! If team unite, then he will worry though.Jimmy Meyers

Bio? i was just giving an example and history of what i know of Yorkville. i have been in Yorkville leagues since 88 playing also football. I wanted to voice my knowledge and support Ricks arguments about yorkville run leagues. You have to give examples, not just say its sucks.

There was a time when Yorkville was competitive. I guess the good teams got wise and took there business elsewhere. Thats really all you can do - if you dont like Yorkoff, dont play in it. Force them to fold or start your own league. hmmmm

Rick, I have known you for quite sometime and it seems that you still are looking for attention. I have read this blog week after week and the things you say just get dumber and dumber. Like the pinch hit for. The reason why is u are a scrub and will always be nothing more than a benchwarmer. LOL